Session #049, Work #038

I finished up the shoe. The glare wasn’t a huge issue, I had to watch the direction of my brush stroke or I would create a huge glare, other than that it wasn’t too bad. I would love to setup my studio like was indicated in the last video I posted but that is a bit too much work and money at the moment.

I don’t have much to say about this painting, and I don’t like that. So from now on I’m going to make up a process in which I must answer a few questions before I begin a painting/drawing session. One of these questions will definitively be, “What is the focus of this painting?”. By focus, I don’t mean, what object should be the focus of this painting, but the objective of this painting specifically in regards with how I want this painting to make be a better artist. Do I want to focus on drawing and make sure that is perfect? Do I want to focus on taking my time on the landscape so that I see more accurately? Do I just want to focus on nothing for this painting and just have fun? It can be anything, but as long as I know what I want to achieve with this painting and go for it.

Here is a list of other things to ask from Richard Schmid’s book.

Which side of the subject is lightest or darkest? This may seem simple, but in landscape painting, it is not always obvious.

Is the light clear and sharp or diffused? Are there strong cast shadows or are the darks softly modeled? Look at the edges of the shadows for that, bright light by itself will not necessarily produce hard edges. Is there any strong reflected light bouncing around?

Where are the lightest light areas, the darkest darks, the sharpest edges, the completely “lost” edges? This is particularly important in establishing the range of values and edges in a painting. (Chapter 5.)

How warm or cool is the light? Are the shadows warmer or cooler than the light areas on the subject?

Where are the most powerful colors? What are they?

Is there an obvious color harmony in the subject as a whole, or is the harmony subtle, as in daylight? (Chapter 7.) Is the harmony created by the light amplified by related local colors in the subject? (This happens with snow and water and fields of grass.)

What sort of technique do you envision? How do you want to put your paint on? Are you going to use a broken color rendering, or strong fluid brushwork, or something else? Do you intend a thickly painted rendering or thin? Where are you going to shovel the paint on, and where do you want to keep it thin? (Chapter 9.)

Where are the strong simple areas, and where do you have to be especially careful?

Are there any drawing problems? Is there foreshortening to contend with? Are there perspective distortions, or areas of ambiguity or confusion? Is there anything in the subject that would look weird if painted?

Is there good light on your canvas? Is the light going to change?

Are you going to have a problem with glare on your canvas? If so, how are you going to deal with it?

Is the subject going to change? What are you going to do about that?

Lastly (as if all of that weren’t enough), consider how much of what you are looking at you really need to paint, or want to paint, or have time to paint.